


Misunderstanding

by kethni



Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:53:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23381236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: ‘What are you doing?’‘Letting you go find out what the hell your parents did,’ he said.
Relationships: Kent Davison/Sue Wilson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Misunderstanding

**Author's Note:**

> For anonymous

Sue was late leaving work. This was not particularly surprising, especially recently. This had never been something that bothered her before. It hadn’t even bothered her when Sean complained about it. Of course, that had been part of a generalised rant that encompassed everything from her “emotional unavailability” to her “not making him a priority” and a lot of other nonsense.

However, this time her leaving work bothered her. It bothered her because, frankly, work was no longer sufficiently interesting or entertaining to reward her devotion, and, more than that, it bothered her because it meant that Kent was alone at home with her parents.

This was not a happy state of affairs.

Sue sped home, only stopping to collect a coffee from the little place on the way. Really though, Kent of all people should understand that sometimes lateness it was simply necessary. Coffee was always necessary.

Her parents’ RV was parked outside the house. She hated that thing. It represented all of the terrible family vacations that she had suffered through as a child. She hadn’t even had a passport until she was eighteen. That was, in Sue opinion, a shocking dereliction of parental duty.

She opened the front door, and Matlock and Ironside immediately assaulted her hearing. She was scowling as she pushed open the living room door.

‘Can you shut those two up?’ she asked.

‘Is that how you say hello when we’ve come all this way to see you?’ Sarah asked.

‘It is when your mutts are making some much noise that I can barely hear myself think,’ Sue retorted.

Her father heaved a heavy sigh. ‘I’ll take them for a walk. Let them burn off some energy.’

‘When you come back, put them in the RV. They’re not coming back in here.’

‘This is not very hospitable, Susan,’ Sarah complained.

Sue put her hand on her hip. ‘One, you promised you wouldn’t bring them in because two, the cats are terrified of them. Why did he let you bring them into the house?’

Sarah licked her lips. This rarely presaged well. ‘He’s gone to the store, so we thought –’

‘Wow,’ Sue said. ‘I see. Well, understand this, Mom, they are _not_ coming back in the house. Any vet bills that we will incur as we deal with the traumatised cats _will_ be forwarded to you.’

‘Oh, you’re being ridiculous.’

Sue narrowed her eyes. ‘You have already disrespected my husband and my home. Continue to disrespect me and Matlock and Ironside won’t be the only ones sleeping in the RV.’

Sarah folded her arms. ‘You would seriously pick cats over your parents?’

‘Evidently you would pick dogs over your daughter.’

Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘It’s nothing personal. Dogs are better than people.’

Sue through up her hands. ‘Well, so are cats, and in this house, cats outrank dogs. Especially dogs that you still haven’t trained not to howl at every small noise.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘I don’t know where we went wrong with you.’

‘And where is Amelia? Did Kent take her out with him?’

Sarah waved her hand. ‘She’s upstairs sleeping.’

‘Sleeping with all that racket. I’ll believe that when I see it.’ Sue put down her purse and went upstairs. This was what her parents were like. Little wonder that Kent had taken himself off to the store. She rather envied him it. 

Amelia’s room was dark. Sue felt her shoulders clench. She had assumed that her mother was needling her for her lateness by claiming that she had missed bedtime entirely. That was the sort of thing that she would do. Yet it appeared that Kent had decided to put Amelia to bed early, without waiting for Sue to get home. She understood that he was annoyed about her parents being there, but this was completely unnecessary. He knew that she looked forward to seeing Amelia when she got home. He _knew_ that.

Sue touched Amelia’s cheek. The little girl didn’t move.

‘Sue?’ Kent called.

She gritted her teeth. ‘Upstairs,’ she snapped.

She heard him climbing the stairs two at a time. She was _forever_ asking him not to do that. He was going to damn well trip or fall down and she was not going to deal with him being injured on top of everything else.

‘You don’t sound –’

‘I am sick and tired of asking you to walk up those stairs like a damn child!’ she snarled. ‘Why is it so hard for you to just do something that I ask?’

Kent opened and closed his mouth. ‘It’s not my fault that your parents are here.’

‘Don’t you dare try to make this about my parents!’

‘She’s asleep?’ Kent asked.

‘Somehow, despite the ridiculous racket that the dogs were making.’ Sue folded her arms.

‘I was only gone a few minutes,’ Kent said.

‘Long enough for my parents to bring the dogs inside. Dad –’

Kent turned around. ‘Are the cats alright?’

‘I haven’t seen – Where are you going?’

‘To check on the cats.’

‘We haven’t finished!’ Sue called after him.

‘Oh, I know,’ he said.

Sue scowled. She did _not_ care for his tone. Work had been too long and deeply annoying, she had come home to her parents being typically infuriating, and now Kent was giving her _tone_.

Marie Curie crept along the hallway, glanced up at Sue, Sue knelt down to let the frightened cat sniff her hand. Sue had not been brought up with cats and had initially been quite unimpressed when she had moved in with Kent. Cats were not obedient. They refused to be trained in any truly meaningful fashion. Cultural osmosis had led her to believe that cats were neither affectionate nor loyal.

Three weeks after she had moved in with Kent, Pierre Curie, had hopped up on the couch next to her and sat. Watching her warily for ten minutes before relaxing and curling up.

‘It means he likes you,’ Kent had said. ‘They can be quite subtle in how the express affection. Admittedly they can sometimes be as blatant and blunt as a brick to the face, but not always.

‘That’s very unhelpful,’ Sue had said severely. ‘I don’t why you put up with it.’

He had smiled. ‘I’m quite happy to take affection in the spirit in which it is offered. Even if that sometimes means that a cat stood on my chest screaming at me, or a woman telling me that if I don’t a vacation, she’ll drug me and kidnap me to Hawaii.’

She hadn’t smiled. ‘You were working too hard.’

Marie Curie jumped up onto Amelia’s cot and curled up next to her. Amelia didn’t react. Sue frowned.

***

Kent was on his hands and knees looking under the bed when Sue bellowed his name. Pierre Curie’s ears flattened, and he fled across to hide underneath the chest of drawers.

‘Kent!’

He was already running towards her. ‘What? What’s wrong?’

She was stood in Amelia’s room joggling the toddler in her arms. ‘What did you do?’

‘What did I do? What are you talking about?’ He took a step back. ‘Why isn’t she awake? You just screamed in her face.’

‘That’s what I’m asking you! She won’t wake up! What did you do to her?’

Kent pushed his hands through his hair. ‘I’m going to call an ambulance.’

‘Was she okay when you put her to bed?’ Sue asked.

He paused. ‘What? I didn’t put her to sleep. She was awake when I went out.’

‘But you said…’ Sue stared at him. ‘Who put her to bed?’

‘I thought you did,’ Kent said. ‘I’m calling an ambulance. Is she breathing?’

‘I’d have said if she wasn’t!’

Kent took Amelia from her and rested her against his shoulder as he called 911.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Letting you go find out what the hell your parents did,’ he said.

***

Sue’s nails bit into the palms of her hands as the ambulance took a corner. She knew that Kent couldn’t come along in the ambulance with them. There clearly wasn’t enough room. She found herself looking at the doors. She knew that he was following the ambulance. It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same as him being sat next to her, holding her hand.

She had made him promise to drive safely. To not break the speed limit.

The ambulance lurched to a halt. The gurney rattled.

The back doors were dragged open and then they were pulling out the gurney. Amelia’s tiny body was almost lost.

Kent pulled Sue out of the ambulance. ‘I’m going to park the car. I’ll meet you in there.’

‘Okay. Okay.’

He put his hand to her cheek. ‘It’s going to be okay.’

She nodded and closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead. ‘Don’t be long.’

‘They’re going.’

Sue turned as they began to move the gurney. She felt him squeeze her hand and then his hand fell away.

***

Sue handled the paperwork which was handed to them in stack.

Kent handled the police and Child Protective Services, who arrived in a cluster.

It took him a good deal longer to deal with his work then it took her to finish hers. When she finished everything and handed it all off, she walked over to the corner where the police were grilling Kent.

‘Shouldn’t you be talking to my parents?’ she asked, as she took Kent’s hand and leaned back against the wall next to him.

‘A statement is gonna be taken,’ one officer said.

‘My mother gave our daughter half of one of her sleeping pills!’

Kent put his arm around her shoulders. ‘They have to ask these questions.’

She stuck out her chin. ‘I don’t see why. We’ve told them what happened.’

Another cop held up his hands. ‘We need to get every possible detail.’

‘Why?’ Sue demanded.

‘Because we might be lying,’ Kent said quietly. ‘Because if they miss something it could have dire consequences.’

‘My colleague is speaking with your parents,’ one of the Child Protective Services people said.

Kent cleared his throat. ‘We’re under a lot of stress,’ he said. ‘I apologise if I’ve been abrupt.’

‘I don’t,’ Sue said.

‘It’s fine,’ the police officer said. ‘We’re entirely used to it. It’s totally normal for tempers to become raised in these kinds of circumstances.’

Sue covered her face with her hand. ‘Is she going to be prosecuted?’

‘It’s too early for that.’

‘Maybe you should have a nap,’ Kent suggested.

‘You’re not serious.’ She waved a hand at the gaggle of officials. ‘And what about all this?’

‘Were you there?’ the police officer said.

Sue scowled. ‘I’ve already said no.’

‘Then we don’t really much more from you,’ he said gently. ‘Your partner is right. You should probably get some rest.’ 

***

Amelia was crying. There has been a time when Sue had thought that all children sounded the same. The suggestion that each individual child had specific _unique_ different sounds for feeling hunger, tiredness, distress or whatever other sensation that their tiny brains were somehow capable of experiencing had seemed utterly ridiculous.

And yet, she could pick Amelia’s cry out in a roomful of wailing toddlers. Granted, that was mostly due to birthday parties taking a poor turn. People talk about sneezes being contagious. From what Sue had seen all it took was one child at a party to take tears for the rest to descend into a howling mess within thirty seconds.

Sue got up from the bank of chairs she had been lying on and followed the sound. As she walked, she straightened her hair and clothes.

Kent was holding Amelia in his arms as the doctor gave him a list of instructions and the Child Protection officer watched carefully. Amelia turned as Sue walked and, without breaking her continual wail, held out her arms to Sue.

‘Shush,’ Sue said, rubbing her back as Amelia hid her face against Sue’s chest. ‘We’re going home soon.’

‘She’s not very happy about waking up in a strange place,’ Kent said meekly. ‘Especially with the IV.’

Sue rubbed Amelia’s back and kissed the side of her face. ‘What’s the prognosis?’ she asked the doctor.

‘It was fortunate that you brought her when you did,’ he said. ‘We were able to flush her system before most of the drug had been metabolised. She’s probably going to be feeling quite unhappy for a day or two. If she’s still feeling poorly after that then bring her back.’

‘I have a list of things to look out for,’ Kent said. ‘And the medications to pick up.’

Sue closed her eyes for a moment. ‘Right.’ She turned to the Child Protective Services officer. ‘Do you need to check our home or something?’

She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ve spoken to your mother and your husband. It seems quite clear what’s happened here and that it won’t happen again.’

‘Thank you,’ Sue said. ‘Can we take Amelia home?’

‘I’ll go fetch these from the pharmacy,’ Kent said.

Sue gave him a small smile as he kissed her forehead.

***

Sue glanced back at Amelia in the backseat. The little girl was chewing her toy pony. ‘Where are my parents?’

‘I told them to find somewhere else to stay.’ His hands gripped the wheel. ‘That they weren’t welcome at the house.’

Sue put her hand over his for a moment and squeezed it. A little of the tension eased from his shoulders and neck.

‘I should have known that you wouldn’t have done that,’ she said.

‘Done what?’

She licked her lips. ‘Put her to bed without me. I should have known. I should have asked my mother why she was asleep.’

‘She’s fine,’ Kent said.

Sue looked out of the window. ‘If I had waited any longer then she might not have been.’

‘How is this helpful? None of this was your fault. I’m the one who went out and left her there.’

She shot him a look. ‘That’s ridiculous. You had every reason to believe she was in good hands.’

‘If I’d taken her with me then this wouldn’t have happened,’ he said stubbornly. ‘Or if I hadn’t gone out at all.’

Sue shook her head. ‘This isn’t your guilt to have.’

He snorted. ‘Right. That’s why I was the one officially questioned by the police.’

She flinched. ‘I didn’t know that. I would have told them that they were wrong.’

‘That wouldn’t have helped,’ he said more gently. 

Sue looked out of the passenger window. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘This isn’t your fault.’

‘I’ll arrange for the locks to be changed.’

She heard Kent shift in his seat. ‘Do we need to do that?’

‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘But I don’t trust my parents not to turn up. I couldn’t look at my mother right now. Not even to demand the keys back.’

‘Okay,’ he said quietly.

‘You think that I’m wrong?’

‘Sue, you’re not angry at me. Please don’t try to pick a fight with me.’

She bit her lip as she looked across at him. She put her hand on his thigh.

‘It’s okay,’ he said, ‘It’s going to be okay.’

***

Amelia was cranky as Kent got her out of the car sear. He didn’t blame her. He couldn’t imagine that she was very comfortable after all the treatments the night before. She made an odd continuous little burble, not quite words but not quite a groan, as she rested her head against his chest. Her tiny fingers played with his shirt buttons.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘Nup.’

‘Tired?’

She shook her head.

‘Do you want to watch some cartoons?’

Amelia looked up at him. She glanced over to Sue, getting out of the car, and then back to Kent.

‘I know you’re not normally allowed in the morning,’ he acknowledged. ‘But this isn’t a normal morning. I’ll talk to mommy about it.’

Amelia kissed his nose.

‘Thank you,’ Kent said gravely.

‘Elco,’ she said with a nod.

He carried her into the house, settled her in front of the television, and turned it on. He took a breath as he turned to Sue.

‘No,’ she said, holding up her hand. ‘It’s fine. I have no moral authority at this point.’

He sighed. ‘It’s not like that.’

‘Can we just… hug?’

He moved closer and pulled her into his arms. ‘We both need to unwind,’ he said, rubbing her back. ‘We can’t go to sleep. So, we lie on the couch and she watches a little TV. That’s all.’

Sue tucked her forehead underneath his chin. ‘Okay.’

‘Okay?’

‘Okay.’ 

The End


End file.
